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Repetition: Pop Music's Beating Heart

The Residents were more interesting in theory than in practice. Fortunately, they were often brilliant in theory. They had a theory once called Commercial Album that suggested that pop songs boil down to a sixty-second essence. It contained minute-long ditties – forty of ’em - most of which could be boiled down to one four-second essence each.

They were correct, though. When you say you’ve had “The Joker” on the brain all fucking day, you probably haven’t experienced the same thing someone would experience if they listened to the entire recording of “The Joker” on repeat. The mind rarely processes pop songs in their entirety. It chews on little five- or six-second nuggets for hours at a time, looping them, twisting them and blending them with the external environment. One little “callout hook” can stick with you for decades as the surrounding verses and solos dissolve.

At its best, Kadaa’s dirty, propulsive dance music does the same thing that your brain does, only with itty-bitty snatches of old soul records. One recognizable vocal hook revolves for a spell, punctuated by the same sort of lurching, rumbling rhythms that seep in around your headphones as you ride the train to work. Different parts of the mix disappear, reappear, and change up with apparent disregard for each other. All the tracks build on the repeating phrases at their centers, sometimes venturing into strange neighborhoods without warning.

Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time won’t be easily confused with anything from Moby, who I suspect has his computer set up to switch on and make the Alan Lomax collection safe for Jetta commercials as he sleeps (with dreams of a rimjob from Natalie Portman bouncing around his gleaming dome). As mentioned before, Kadaa is for the mass-transit crowd. Simply put, Kadaa has more soul than Moby, and when his samples mourn life’s miseries (as is the case with the devastating “Please don’t ever leave me / If you do I’ll go craaaazy” loop at the heart of “Burden”) he presents them in gloomy, ominous habitats. “Burden” wouldn’t sound out of place next to one of the more haunting Residents songs.

Of course, like having an absurdly catchy tune in your skull, Kadaa’s music can be transcendental or induce claustrophobic annoyance, depending on what flavor of day you’re having. If you’re a pop music archeologist, you’d be a fool to miss Thank You For Your Valuable Time. Kadaa’s music is just as interesting in practice as it is in theory. But dispense it with caution.